Let’s Go Camping
By the time everyone finished moving things up, they saw that Su Ruixi’s mood had already improved significantly, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Of course, Su Ruixi hadn’t actually said or done anything to them; she hadn’t even said many harsh words to Hip-Hop Mei. However, just by sitting there, her entire being radiated an intense, intimidating aura.
Even though she barely said a few words, Hip-Hop Mei’s head hung lower and lower.
In this high-pressure atmosphere, everyone felt like Su Ruixi might be talking about them, so they followed suit, trembling with fear and not daring to make a peep. Now that they were back and saw Su Ruixi finally showing a hint of a smile, they couldn’t help but exclaim internally: Thank goodness Little Boss Sun is back!
After that, Sun Miao began some preparatory work. Only after the filling and dough were mixed did she ask for everyone’s help. The next step was putting the filling into the dough, wrapping it up, placing it into molds to press it into shape, and then putting it into the freezer to freeze it solid before it could be eaten.
There were so many people present that while this group did that, another group could work on something else——making skewers. They skewered the meat and vegetables Sun Miao had bought, preparing them for the barbecue at the campsite later.
Seeing that everyone had work in hand, Sun Miao turned around and entered the kitchen to handle two tasks that others couldn’t help with. One was marinating the lamb chops, and the other was making Dapanji1. Actually, there was one person who could help: Jiang Ping, the Huaiyang2 cuisine chef brought along by Yuan Xiangyi.
Since she was a head chef, basic tasks were a matter of a hand capture3 for her. Earlier, when they were cutting meat, Jiang Ping had helped a lot. Her knife skills were excellent; as a Huaiyang cuisine chef, it was impossible to have poor knife skills. After all, Wensi Tofu4 is a classic famous dish in Huaiyang cuisine. If you can’t make that dish, you’d basically be expelled from the Huaiyang chef ancestral registry5.
Aside from that, dishes like Three-Nested Duck6 and Soft-Pocket Long Fish7 also required significant knife skills.
Sun Miao’s knife skills were good, but seeing Jiang Ping’s technique, she had to admit: in terms of knife skills alone, Jiang Ping was definitely superior to her. So, Sun Miao felt very reassured handing the task of chopping the chicken for the Dapanji over to Jiang Ping.
Working in a pair was indeed much easier than doing it alone. Besides chopping the chicken, Jiang Ping took on all the other chopping tasks. Moreover, as a head chef, even if she didn’t know the exact method for making this Dapanji, she could guess the general idea. Every time Sun Miao turned around wanting to grab something, Jiang Ping could accurately hand the corresponding ingredient or seasoning right to Sun Miao’s hand.
No wonder head chefs always have several assistant chefs; having someone to help really feels different from cooking alone.
Sun Miao didn’t know that while Jiang Ping was helping her, she was adopting the mindset of a sous-chef or even a xiaogong8. She was learning while she helped. Sun Miao truly didn’t hide anything from her; from prepping the vegetables to the seasoning, she didn’t shun her away, allowing her to watch from the side. It was a complete learning experience.
When Sun Miao cooked, she was very immersed, but when it came to waiting for water to boil or for things to stew, she would become very relaxed, even taking out her phone to play. But as an insider, Jiang Ping could naturally see how thoroughly Sun Miao had mastered the Dapanji dish. She could watch two pots simultaneously——one spicy and one non-spicy.
Aside from adding chili peppers, every step looked like a one-to-one replication. Beneath this attitude of strolling idly in a courtyard9, it was evident just how clearly Sun Miao understood the production of Dapanji. To reach this level, one couldn’t achieve it without making it hundreds of times. Precisely because it was so clear, Jiang Ping admired her exceptionally.
There are quite a few chefs who, although called “Head Chef of XX Cuisine,” actually spend their entire lives researching only one or two dishes, or sometimes just a single dish.
Only that one dish, on which the chef has spent their life’s blood, achieves the state of perfection. For Jiang Ping, this dish was Crab Powder Lion’s Head10. The other Huaiyang dishes Jiang Ping made were good, and her Wensi Tofu was superb. But she had always been working hard, learning from her master and now learning from Sun Miao, all to refine her Crab Powder Lion’s Head.
She had originally thought that for Sun Miao, this specialized dish would also be Crab Powder Lion’s Head.
But previously, Yuan Xiangyi told her that the Braised Original Shell Abalone11 made by Sun Miao was equally outstanding, to the point where even Lu12 cuisine chefs praised it endlessly, frankly stating it was even better than what their own teachers made. At that time, Jiang Ping was stunned. Instinctively, she didn’t quite believe it. After all, Lu cuisine and Huaiyang cuisine are two completely different culinary traditions. How could Sun Miao possibly cross cuisines and master two classic dishes to a state of perfection, integrating them so thoroughly?
Now, seeing is believing. Not only the Crab Powder Lion’s Head and the Braised Original Shell Abalone, but the Dapanji Sun Miao made was just as good. Relying on just these three dishes, Sun Miao was skilled enough to be a guest of honor at any restaurant or winery.
But she preferred to settle for partial peace in a corner13, content with just running a stall.
At noon, everyone didn’t linger at Sun Miao’s place to eat. Although the Dapanji in the kitchen kept emitting a tempting aroma, and while they were outside busy making mooncakes and skewers, the saliva being secreted had to be constantly swallowed down. They had to endure it, then leave Sun Miao’s room and wait to be called in the afternoon.
Once they went downstairs, they headed straight for the second floor to order food and get something to eat. Without exception, everyone ordered a serving of Dapanji. The Dapanji just now was simply too fragrant; it filled their minds with nothing but Dapanji. So when the waiter came to ask what they wanted to eat, “New Province Dapanji” naturally slipped out of their mouths.
When that Dapanji was served, before they even ate, the regular customers critiqued it: “This aroma isn’t as good as what Little Boss Sun just made. I knew that one was delicious just by smelling it. This Dapanji here has too many spices; it feels like it will be a bit greasy to eat.”
A companion persuaded her: “Just eat a little bit, at least, consider it a comparison. When I looked up guides for this place earlier, I saw recommendations saying this place’s Dapanji is particularly authentic. If you come here and have some money on hand, you must try it once!”
“Alright, I’ll just use it to pad the stomach14. I can’t get too full; I need to save room for Little Boss Sun’s meal.”
Hip-Hop Mei secretly whispered to Yabi Mei: “Just now, when we finished making the mooncakes, I found a little bit of filling smeared on my hand. Before I went to wash my hands, I secretly licked it. I don’t know how Little Boss Sun mixed it, but it was really delicious. Sweet, but not cloying, and it was the blueberry jam flavor I love so much!”
“…” Yabi Mei looked at Hip-Hop Mei, not knowing what to say. Mainly because that action by Hip-Hop Mei was actually quite embarrassing.
However, Hip-Hop Mei had a loud voice. Even if she deliberately lowered it, to others, it sounded like a big horn. What she said was naturally heard by Zhou Ling’s family sitting nearby. Zhou Ling’s Mother’s little sister15 slapped her thigh directly: “Aiya, why didn’t ala16 think of that! We could have secretly licked a bite!”
Zhou Ling’s Mother laughed: “If you all had thought of that, the filling wouldn’t have been made into mooncakes. You would have eaten it while making it until it was all gone.”
The little sister and Zhou Ling burst into laughter because of Zhou Ling’s Mother’s words. On the other side, someone also whispered: “Yeah, I also secretly licked what got on my hand. That jam was really delicious. It must be made by Little Boss Sun herself, not bought from outside. Store-bought ones are never this good. Nowadays, they are all made of tianmisu17 and artificial coloring; they don’t taste good at all.”
The regular customers who made skewers looked at each other, wishing they could replace those girls on the spot. After all, what they skewered was raw meat and raw vegetables; they couldn’t taste it at all.
Yuan Xiangyi suddenly thought of something and asked Jiang Ping next to her: “Jiang Ping, didn’t you go into the kitchen to help? Did Little Boss Sun let you help taste the Dapanji?”
With one sentence, all the regular customers who heard it pricked up their ears, not wanting to miss the answer.
Jiang Ping shook her head: “No, Little Boss Sun is quite confident in herself. She didn’t even taste it herself, so I certainly didn’t have that opportunity. However, Little Boss Sun made two flavors, both spicy and non-spicy.”
Thank goodness, thank goodness. For now, no one had tasted the Dapanji in advance. Especially those who couldn’t eat spicy food, like Zhou Ling and Zhou Ling’s Mother’s little sisters, were even more relieved upon hearing this: Hey, there’s actually non-spicy Dapanji! Little Boss Sun really takes care of us.
But they forgot one thing: one should not discuss Sun Miao and the food she makes at the dinner table. Otherwise, the current meal becomes food not going down the throat18.
This meal—although the Dapanji was indeed decent—because they had just smelled the aroma of Sun Miao’s Dapanji, they unconsciously made comparisons. Of course, they hadn’t eaten it yet, so they were comparing the Dapanji in their imagination with the Dapanji in front of them. Under normal circumstances, such a comparison is actually quite damaging to Sun Miao.
Because that Dapanji was their imagination; before actually eating the Dapanji, they would endlessly elevate what Sun Miao made, and then generate particularly high expectations on their own.
When people’s expectations are too great, they are hard to satisfy. Once the Dapanji Sun Miao made was even slightly unsatisfactory, the emotion of “disappointment” would lead people to give a bad review.
But that was Sun Miao. The Dapanji Sun Miao made was absolutely delicious, so no matter how high they raised their expectations, at Sun Miao’s place, they would be shocked time and time again. If this weren’t the case, Sun Miao wouldn’t have accumulated so many regular customers, including wealthy people who had eaten all kinds of delicacies from the land and sea.
After finishing a mediocre meal of Dapanji, everyone looked forward to the afternoon even more.
In the afternoon, everyone found their own cars. After all, the car Su Ruixi rented really couldn’t seat many people. When they looked for someone to rent cars from, they naturally thought of Su Ruixi and Sun Miao’s tour guide. They asked her for help and gave her extra tips. This made the tour guide smile until her eyes squinted; she really didn’t expect that even as these two beautiful and kind-hearted bosses were about to leave, they could still bring her a wave of business.
When Sun Miao notified everyone in the group chat that they could set off, she saw that everyone was driving, forming a mighty convoy heading toward the camping area.
On the afternoon of the 7th, the desert highway, which had been hopelessly jammed before, now had barely any cars visible; everyone had already left. Only their convoy remained, winding its way along the highway. The hotel was quite close to the campsite, and they arrived in about ten minutes or so.
Hip-Hop Mei acted as the one horse leading first19 and jumped out of the car, immediately running happily20 toward Sun Miao’s side.
“Coming, coming! I’ll help carry!” Her eyes were fixed on the thermal boxes in Sun Miao’s car, not moving an inch.
The author has something to say:
Regular Customer: Little Boss Sun is just too nice! She… her wife is pretty good too.
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